How to Answer: Your sister brings her new boyfriend home for the holidays. You recognize him as a patient you treated for herpes simplex type 2. What do you do?
26. Your sister brings her new boyfriend home for the holidays. You recognize him as a patient you treated for herpes simplex type 2. What do you do?
How to Answer
Naturally, in this hypothetical situation, you would want to warn your sister about this particular individual. However, what you want to do and what you are legally allowed to do in this situation are two very different things. When you answer this question, you must consider privacy laws in your region. Show that you are capable of maintaining professionalism, even if the situation becomes somewhat personal.
Answer Example
" I know that medical ethics rules, state laws, and the federal law clearly state that a doctor must keep patient information confidential with very few exceptions. I have studied HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). I know that I am obliged to keep a patients' medical records confidential unless the patient allows the doctor's office to disclose them. For that reason, if my sister brought home a former patient with an STI, I would not inform my sister but trust in the fact that I would have educated my patient well enough on matters of safer sex and the prevention of infecting a partner."